Chairs
Professor Emanuele Trucco, University of Dundee, UK
Professor Emanuele Trucco, University of Dundee, UK
Emanuele (Manuel) Trucco, is the NRP Chair of Computational Vision in Computing, School of Science and Engineering, at the University of Dundee, and an Honorary Clinical Researcher of NHS Tayside.
Manuel has been active since 1984 in computer vision, and since 2002 in medical image analysis, publishing more than 250 refereed papers and 2 textbooks, and serving on the organizing or program committee of major international and UK conferences. Manuel is co-director of VAMPIRE (Vessel Assessment and Measurement Platform for Images of the Retina), an international research initiative led by the Universities of Dundee and Edinburgh (co-director Dr Tom MacGillivray), and part of the UK Biobank Eye andVision Consortium. VAMPIRE develops software tools for efficient data and image analysis with a focus on multi-modal retinal images. VAMPIRE has been used in UK and international biomarker studies on cardiovascular risk, stroke, dementia, diabetes and complications, cognitive performance, neurodegenerative diseases, and genetics. Industrial collaboratorss include Canon (ex Toshiba) Medical, OPTOS plc, NIDEK, and Epipole plc. The portfolio of recent VAMPIRE projects led or co-led by Manuel include a £7M NIHR grant Dundee-Chennai on precision medicine for diabetes, a £1.1M EPSRC grant on multi-modal biomarkers for vascular dementia, the 3M-euro ITN "REVAMMAD", and PhD studentships sponsored by OPTOS plc, SINAPSE and Toshiba.
13:30-14:30
The UK Biobank Eye & Vision Consortium as a model for synergy and collaboration in big data analysis - Professor Paul Foster
Abstract
UK Biobank was initially conceived as a platform for studies of gene environment interaction in major chronic diseases of older age, such as cancer, stroke, MI and diabetes. Towards the end of the study, the UKBB steering committee advised the broadening of the scope of the study to include more detailed examination of participants, including assessment of physical fitness, brain and cardiac imaging, as well as an examination of eyes and vision. Moorfields Eye Hospital and the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology in London developed the eye and vision module. The core funding for the examination was provided by the Wellcome Trust, The Medical Research Council and The Department of Health. Additional support for training, implementation and quality control came from the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at Moorfields Eye Hospital.
117,649 people took part in the basdeline eye and vision component of UK Biobank, undergoing modified logMAR visual acuity testing on a computerized system developed specifically for UK Biobank, autorefraction and keratometry (Tomey RC-5000), as well as measurement of intraocular pressure on a Reichert ORA Ocular Response Analyser, which returns measures of Goldmann equivalent intraocular pressure (IOP), corneal hysteresis, corneal resistance factor and IOP adjusted for corneal biomechanical properties. A smaller number (68,151) underwent simultaneous colour retinal photography, together with spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) in both eyes. During the data collection phase of UKBB, the Image Reading Centre at Moorfields provided a rapid turn-around quality assurance service for the macular photos and OCT images, finding them to be of high quality, compared with other studies using similar methodology. This large scale, well-curated eye data, together with accompanying extensive phenotyping of all major organ systems, make the UK Biobank eye and vision dataset unique worldwide.
Eye and vision researchers around the UK have formed a consortium involving clinicians and academics from around the UK, incorporating Belfast, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Dundee, Edinburgh, Gloucester, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Southampton, St Andrews, Warwick and several London centres (Brunel, Imperial, Kings, Moorfields, UCL, St Georges). The consortium interacts using UK Universities JISCMail email list server. The group meets in February each year for a day-long programme of planning, discussion and debate. This has led to the formation of groups working on various aspects of data, including visual acuity, refractive error, intraocular pressure, retinal vascular characteristics, genetics and outcomes adjudication and monitoring. Multiple publications have ensued, with two major genetics studies in press in Nature Genetics.
14:30-15:30
Multi-modal retinal imaging in the Northern Ireland Cohort for the Longitudinal Study of Aging (NICOLA)
Dr Ruth Hogg, Queen’s University Belfast, UK
Abstract
The Northern Ireland Cohort for Longitudinal Aging Study is a comprehensive, long-term epidemiological study of adult development and ageing which started in February 2014 and consists of a random sample of men and women aged 50 years, representative of the Northern Ireland population. As part of the study approximately 3,600 participants have attended the Wellcome-Wolfson Clinical Research Facility (CRF) at Belfast City Hospital for a health assessment. The health assessment included anthropometry, respiratory, cardiovascular, cognitive and ophthalmology tests. The ophthalmic component involved visual acuity, auto refraction, corneal compensated intra-ocular pressure, stereo colour fundus photographs, infra-red and autofluorescent retinal images, wide field Optos colour images and Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) with Enhanced Depth Imaging (EDI) of the choroid. Macular pigment was also assessed using dual-wavelength autofluorescence. To date most epidemiological studies have only used colour fundus photographs for estimating ocular disease prevalence. The talk will discuss the opportunities and challenges of using multi-modal imaging and incorporating the data into a larger framework that also encompasses genomic, epigenomic, dietary and biochemical biomarkers.D
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Dr Ruth Hogg, Queen’s University Belfast, UK
Dr Ruth Hogg, Queen’s University Belfast, UK
Dr Hogg is an academic Optometrist and Epidemiologist based at the Centre for Public Health, Queen's University Belfast (QUB). After her professional training she completed a PhD at Queen's University Belfast supervised by Professor Usha Chakravarthy, followed by post-doctoral fellowships in Melbourne and Cambridge. In 2010 she returned to QUB to take up a Lectureship. Her research interests focus on the intersection between ocular aging and the development of age-related diseases such as Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), Diabetic Retinopathy and Glaucoma and also risk factors for progression of these diseases to their sight threatening forms. Her lab is focused on the following themes:
1. The epidemiology of age-related eye diseases such as Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), Diabetic Retinopathy and Glaucoma.
2.Exploring the utility of new technologies for measuring and monitoring visual function including both handheld devices and virtual reality headsets.
3. Identifying structural, serological and functional biomarkers of Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and Diabetic Retinopathy that may enable early detection and more accurate prognoses.
4. Understanding the differences between normal ocular ageing and the earliest stages of AMD, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma.
She also leads the eye component of the Northern Ireland Cohort for the Longitudinal Study of Aging, an epidemiological study following 8,000 older adults in Northern Ireland.
16:00-17:00
Facilitated open discussion
Michael Bowen, College of Optometrists, UK
Abstract
Facilitated open discussion: imaging, data and vision- priorities for collaboration, research and eye health.
Led by Michael Bowen, College of Optometrists
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Michael Bowen, College of Optometrists, UK
Michael Bowen, College of Optometrists, UK
Michael is the Director of Research at the College of Optometrists, where he is responsible for the strategic development of the College's Research activities. Michael has led various research projects within the sector, including: PrOVIDe - which gathered data on the prevalence of visual impairment among people living with dementia in England; the National Minimum Data Sets Project to develop harmonised data sets for hospital eye service clinics; and the Optometric Public Health Project, exploring data sets for primary care setting in optometry. Prior to joining the College in 2008, Michael worked at the professional and regulatory body for Psychotherapy in the UK, running their research, education and standards, and fitness to practice functions. Michael's academic background is in psychology, biology and medical ethics.